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Michael Saladyga

Michael Saladyga began working for the AAVSO in 1985, at the suggestion of his former boss, Dr. Dorrit Hoffleit, at the Yale Astronomy Dept. He worked for Dr. Hoffleit as a research assistant and computer programmer on the Bright Star Catalogue (4th ed.) and the Supplement to the BSC.

Having been involved in just about every aspect of staff work at AAVSO Headquarters over the years, Mike's responsibilities now center on: compiling and archiving the non-automated variable star observations received at headquarters, including historical observations; production editor for the AAVSO Journal, AAVSO Newsletter, and AAVSO Annual Report; and arranging and cataloging the AAVSO's archives—an ongoing project begun in 2000. He is also called to assist other staff with their projects as needed.

Mike and AAVSO Past-President Thomas R. Williams have published Advancing Variable Star Astronomy: The Centennial History of the AAVSO (2011, Cambridge University Press).

Through the years, Mike feels privileged to have known so many dedicated observers and supporters of the AAVSO's prime mission of service to the science of astronomy. He feels fortunate to have at least met, if not worked with, some of the famous names in the AAVSO's history: Charter member Willem Luyten, Margaret Mayall, Dorrit Hoffleit, and of course Janet Mattei; also, Helen Thomas, Florence Campbell Bibber, Danie Overbeek, Frank Bateson, Wayne Lowder; and the list goes on to include so many more whose names do not often, if ever, appear—those who may make only a few visual observations each night, and yet have been doing it night after night for many, many, years because they know that all observations, including their own, make a real contribution to our knowledge of the universe. The "Association" in "AAVSO" continues to live through these dedicated members, observers, and supporters. All who are associated with the AAVSO should know and be proud of the history and tradition that preceeds them in their dedication at the eyepiece each night.

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After serving on a North Atlantic weather ship and at a lifeboat station in the U.S. Coast Guard, Mike attended Temple University in Philadelphia, and Buffalo State College (B.A.); Middlebury College, Vermont (M.A., Bread Loaf School of English, including three intensive summers at Lincoln College, Oxford University, where he studied with Stephen Gill, Dennis Kay, and A. Walton Litz). Soon after earning his first M.A., Mike taught literature and writing at St. Anselm College, Manchester, New Hampshire, and writing, math (up to pre-calculus), and programming for an adult education class at New Hampshire College, also in Manchester. He later earned an M.A. and his Ph.D. from Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, where he studied with John Burt, and William Flesch of Brandeis, and Stanislaw Baranczak of Harvard.

When he is not working hard at AAVSO Headquarters, Mike enjoys volunteer work helping to restore to operating condition the historic tugboat LUNA—the first commercial diesel-electric tug, built in 1930 (http://www.tugboatluna.org). When not being a wharf rat, Mike also enjoys spending time with his wife Ann in the peaceful hills of western Maine. When all else fails, he takes to brewing—and drinking—his own beer.